Stands having negative effect on bass?

njprrogers

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Aug 12, 2015
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I have an audiolab 6000a and some b and w 606's in a room where my office is. Room is about 8m by 4m.

Initially I had the speakers sitting on top of some MA silver r6 🙈 as the stands have been hard to come by in covid times.

So I sold my old speakers and eventually my B and W STAV24 stands arrived. I filled them with sand and we were away...

The problem is that my lovely taut bass has disappeared and the bass now sounds badly defined or absent.

It's a hardwood floor and relatively sparsely furnished room at the moment.
 
It is hard to tell without hearing. Typically, putting speakers on other speakers makes the bass fuller ime. You may/will have got used to that. And filling a large 8m x 4m lightly furnished room with a stand mounted speaker will need some care and patience.

I suspect you’re hearing a better balance, but in an unfurnished room, so you might need some rugs, drapes or whatever. Any chance of some pictures?
 
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AJM1981

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just for the record.. have you double checked the polarity of your connection (red wire in red, black in black both amp and speaker) ? As sudden total loss of bass doesn't really sound like a standmount problem.
 
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njprrogers

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So, we got a new sofa (comfy, thanks for asking) and I reconfigured the room accordingly. My bass issues seem to be resolved in this configuration. Probably end up moving the bookshelves down and the speakers closer to the wall. Still should be enough for a 50cm gap though.

I have a narrow enough sweet spot as they're close to the couch which is the sweetspot from a listening POV. They don't sound acceptable down the other end of the room while I am working.
 

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Gray

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So, we got a new sofa (comfy, thanks for asking) and I reconfigured the room accordingly. My bass issues seem to be resolved in this configuration. Probably end up moving the bookshelves down and the speakers closer to the wall. Still should be enough for a 50cm gap though.

I have a narrow enough sweet spot as they're close to the couch which is the sweetspot from a listening POV. They don't sound acceptable down the other end of the room while I am working.
Not expecting you to change by the way. (You're probably another of those with a dictator as their 'better' half :) )
But that great expanse of shiny, solid flooring will have a far greater effect on resultant sound quality than whether / how much a stand is filled.
Nothing less than wall-to-wall carpeting for me. No compromise, no wife, no problem (y)
 

Gray

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Yeah, a lot of hard surfaces. :oops: That unfortunately is in the hands of a greater power.

We might get a rug at some stage but that would be the extent of it.
Don't worry you're not alone. We all live with some compromise - mine's not being in a detached house, which would allow me to play at preferred levels more often than I do.

I do appreciate how tedious any talk of room treatment is, admit to having been bored by it myself.
But, even in a fully carpeted room (albeit with a cheap, thin carpet), I still had excessive, overlapping reverberations (it's the mixing that leads to harmful 'fluttery' reverb).
After treating 2 walls (with cork) and a ceiling (with raised pattern polystyrene tiling)......major (and I mean major) differences.
A before and after analogy is someone without reading glasses......the words are blurred, but he can see them, his brain adapts, he can read 'OK'.
But with his glasses on.....his brain makes no effort, the words are focused, the fuzziness goes.
That's what happens with the sound.
Speakers are often designed and tested in anechoic chambers, with good reason. Then their marketing depts. in glossy ads, picture them in ludicrously bare, 'lifestyle' rooms that nobody would ever live in.....which always makes me smile.
 
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njprrogers

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The amp is currently sitting on the only available perch which is soft-ish. I just ordered a table which will be here next week. Putting it all together piece by piece.

@Gray interesting on the room treatments. I might be able to get something tasteful. My wife's family are musicians, drummers mostly! So I might see if someone can help me out with some sensible treatments.
 
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